Top Obama for America officials Thursday accused Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney of seriously misleading either regulators or the American people about his tenure as the leader of Bain Capital.
Deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, speaking to reporters on a conference call, said that the ongoing controversy over Romney's role at Bain and how long he maintained a leadership role at the company pose serious questions about his candidacy.
In recent weeks, the Obama campaign has used news reports to hammer Romney and Bain as being "pioneers" in outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas.
The Romney campaign has attempted to deflect some of that criticism by saying that Romney had largely stepped down as the head of the company during the times cited by the Obama camp as being emblematic of the outsourcing trend.
But Cutter cited a Boston Globe report that uncovered Securities and Exchange Commission filings that she said showed Romney "directly responsible" for the bankruptcies, outsourcing, layoffs and other business practices that the Obama campaign has used to castigate him.
Bob Bauer, the general counsel for the campaign, said the discrepancies between Romney and his campaign's statements and the record of SEC filings is "serious business."
"What we're talking about here are representations which are … very carefully scrutinized by lawyers because of the very severe consequences that follow from making statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission that are not correct," Bauer said.
He added, "If you talk to securities lawyers, you will find that these kinds of statements are not lightly made."
Bauer said that it was difficult to believe that someone like Romney, who has been described as meticulous in his business dealings, would allow reports of this magnitude to be filed in a sloppy or inaccurate manner.
"If, in fact, as he now claims, that he was, in fact, not with the company, he was not the controlling person that is described here, that means that these statements are false," Bauer said. "There are very, very serious legal consequences that would follow."
Romney's statements and disclosure forms to the federal government, Bauer said, appear to "directly contradict" the certified filings with the SEC.
Cutter, however, was more blunt in her assessment of Romney, labeling him the "most secretive candidate to run for President since Richard Nixon."
"Either Mitt Romney, through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony," Cutter said. "Or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments."
She added, "If that's the case, if he was lying to the American people, then that's a real character and trust issue that the American people need to take very seriously."
The Obama campaign did not immediately respond to a request from RTTNews about whether it was seeking an official SEC investigation into the conflicting statements, though Bauer suggested on the call that the SEC would normally follow up on such discrepancies.
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